Apple eyes big bite of mobile payments

Apple Inc is launching a large promotion campaign in China to promote Apple Pay, in a move to expand its presence in the local mobile payment market dominated by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

From July 18 to 24, Chinese consumers who use Apple Pay to buy items in certain retailers and supermarkets can benefit from a range of offers of up to 50 percent off. They can also enjoy as much as 50 times the usual amounts of reward points for credit cards, Apple said on its official Chinese website.

Partners for the promotion campaign include a total of 28 offline retail stores, supermarkets and restaurants, such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee, as well as 16 internet merchants including bike-sharing app Mobike, online travel app Ctrip and e-commerce site JD.